Control of individual bouts of behavior in aplysia fasciata: Integration of feeding, reproduction, and locomotion

Control of individual bouts of different behaviors was examined in Aplysia fasciata, as part of a long-term project examining the principles underlying higher-order decision-making. Previous studies have shown that access to food and to mates affects the total time devoted to various behaviors. We examined whether these factors also affect either bout lengths or bout frequencies. Access to food inhibited mating, by decreasing both bout lengths and bout frequencies, while access to mates increased feeding by increasing bout length. Bouts of mobility were affected in complex ways by access to food and mates: food had opposite effects on bout lengths and bout frequencies, while mates decreased bout lengths.